Struggles and Strides (Asynchronous Session)
Pusong Bastos, Duterte, and Trump: The Struggles of the Younger Generation Living in the Philippines and the American Filipinx with Both Presidencies
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Dr. Elvin T. Ramos
This paper explores the challenges faced with the rise of power of Rodrigo Duterte and Donald J. Trump by millions of younger people in the Philippines and those same age demographic who are citizens of the United States. As both presidencies take global stage in 2016, the fire and fury of both administrations have had an impact in many younger Filipinos and Filipino-American trying to understand the complexity of their politics. Filipinx are growing in a political climate where they are learning and facing radical ideologies happening in both countries. They are urged to liberate themselves by speaking out for what is right, advocating for hope, and emerging as activists at various platforms. This paper highlights selected similar domestic policies in both nations contributing to the heartaches of this new generation.
New Paradigm from Anthropocentrism to Biocentrism: Nature as a Subject of Rights View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Diana Carolina Barreto Cardoso
The purpose of this paper is to raise the possibility of a paradigm shift from Anthropocentrism to Biocentrism, biocentrism is a word of Greek origin bios life and life and center life as the center of everything. In our Western history we have had epistemological conceptions such as theocentrism and anthropocentrism. These positions have significantly influenced our vision in different disciplines such as philosophy, law, political science, economics, among others. As well as the relationship of human beings to nature and other living beings such as animals. Changing paradigms is important not only for survival as a human species, it is also an opportunity in the face of this crisis and can contribute to changing the history of the world. The method of my research is qualitative, it has been to analyze different constitutions that include other beings as rights holders, interviews and I am in the process of conducting surveys. The research implications are the possibility of attribution of rights to nature and animals in the face of the historical moment we are experiencing. Should we change the current paradigm of Anthropocentrism? I am working on these questions and two areas: 1) Nature and animals will be more protected if they are granted ownership of rights, we can start with protection rights if civil or political rights are not possible. 2) We have a challenge from the academy to educate, change awareness in influencing for the good of future generations of human beings, animals, and protecting nature.
“How Does the (Re) emergence of the Far-right Shape ‘Ethnic Minority’ Perceptions of ‘Britishness’?” View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Katie Ismay
Polarisation is evident in a post-Trump, Brexit society due to the rise of nationalist populism and contention from the liberal left; with tensions prevalent when challenging the injustices faced by racialised minority groups. The denial of systemic and institutionalised forms of racism within the nationalist populist movement serves to alienate minority communities and further enforce ‘the Racial contract’ (Mills, 1997). This research presents tentative findings in response to the question: “How does the (re) emergence of the far-right shape ‘ethnic minority’ perceptions of ‘Britishness’?” It draws on empirical data from 20 semi-structured narrative interviews with local men and women within a West Yorkshire jurisdiction; an area with a complex history in terms of community cohesion due to ‘White flight’ and associations with radicalisation. Using thematic analysis and a Critical Race Theory lens, the concepts of ‘orientalism’, ‘Whiteness’ and the ‘invisible touch of race’ (Tate, 2014) are discussed in line with ‘Britishness’ to gain a greater understanding of how minority groups are ‘othered’ by the current nationalist populist discourse .The project presents individual testimonies of racialised minorities experiencing transparent forms of alienation at the hands of Far-right affiliated groups to discreet, pedestrian and ‘invisible’ racism. Exploring the impact of nationalism and its ability to transcend racial lines, this research finds the far right (re) emergence detrimental. Though British, participants sense of citizenship and belonging is being challenged by experiences of racism; the associations between ‘Britishness’ and ‘Whiteness’ and the Islamophobic, anti-migrant and orientalist sentiments perpetuated by the ruling Conservative government.
Domestic Abuse and the COVID-19 Pandemic View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ronagh McQuigg
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, incidents of domestic abuse have increased substantially around the globe. The lockdown and social distancing measures which have been adopted by many states, although necessary to limit the spread of the virus, have meant that those already living in abusive relationships have found themselves to be even more isolated in such situations. Additionally, the anxiety created by the COVID-19 pandemic has increased tensions within many relationships, all too often resulting in violence. The situation has been exacerbated by the fact that, at the very time of rising rates of domestic abuse, services available to victims were reduced. Indeed, UN Women, the UN entity dedicated to gender equality, has termed violence against women during the COVID-19 pandemic as being the ‘shadow pandemic’. The paradox for those experiencing domestic abuse is that, while home may be the safest place to be as regards the COVID-19 pandemic, it is conversely the most dangerous place in relation to the ‘shadow pandemic’ of domestic abuse. This paper examines the increase in domestic abuse since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and will focus on the responses of UN entities such as the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee), UN Women, and the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women. In particular, the paper considers the recommendations which have been made by such entities regarding the measures which should be adopted by governments to address domestic abuse in the context of the pandemic.
Community Resilience Combating the Necropoltiics of Extraction : Liberation Politics of the Ogoni View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nicholas Johnson
Globalization continues to intensify the exchanges of people, resources, capital, and technologies, expanding the roles and influence of both state and non-state actors. A by-product of this is the expansion of the political and economic will of multinational actors and their use of political power to impose social, civic, and literal death onto ethnic/racially marginalized communities throughout the Global South for capital accumulation. Countries still navigating their colonial past, often find their continued legacy of export in the form of “extractive zones”. Indigenous communities, often confined to the margins of the modern nation-state system, continue to be an advocate for justice against national and corporate demands for extraction from vulnerable lands and freshwater composites. The resulted injustice comes in the form of underdevelopment and social death. States, such as Nigeria, upon gaining independence, sought to navigate the free-market and use natural resources such as oil as a vehicle to wealth, multinational actors such as Shell Royal Dutch company were permitted to continue practices that disregarded the human rights of ethnic minorities and indigenous communities through militarism, land grabs, and extraction infrastructures creating a site of necropolitics. Despite this, Ogoni communties, continue to fight for inclusion and autonomy using politics reflective of their ecological and cultural relationship to the Niger Delta. This research explores the ways local communities seek to challenge injustices of a neoliberal global system that thrives from their exclusion, and how they build collective political power through their social-ecological context.
Ethical Perspectives of New Technologies: A View from Political Science View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Rosa María Ricoy Casas
People use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and algorithms every day. The changes introduced by the new emerging technologies (computer-internet; robotics, drones, etc.), the so-called industry 4.0, and the new applications used in the public sphere, have created a new type of citizen; the “digital citizen”. That is why a special sensitivity and commitment on the part of public operators is needed to anticipate and solve the problems that may arise from its application. In this study, we analyze numerous applications and controversial situations that need public policies reviewed by governments.
Entrepreneurship and Labour Regulation Under a Gender Perspective View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Samuel Medina-Claros, María J. Angulo Guerrero
Limited focus has been given to potential gendered effects of country-level labor market regulation on entrepreneurship. This study investigates the extent to which flexibility in the regulations of employment matters for entrepreneurial activity under a gender perspective. We conduct a panel data analysis for 83 countries during the period 2004-2018 by differentiating between developed and developing economies. Our results highlight that, while in high-income countries the effects of labor regulation on gendered entrepreneurship are insignificant, in the developing countries labor flexibility seems to be closely associated with female entrepreneurship, so that more flexible labor regulation is related to lower female early-stage entrepreneurial activity, even though this relationship tends to be reversed as the level of economic development of the country is higher. The findings highlight how potential reform of labor market institutions, particularly in the developing world, may entail considerable implications in terms of gendered entrepreneurship, and consequently in the progress towards gender equality and empowerment of women.
The Battle for the Soul of America: Reformation of American Civil Religion View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Gail Choate
The United States is renowned for its commitment to the separation of church and state. However, that does not mean that God was absent during state formation or in contemporary America. Instead, a well-developed interdisciplinary field of study examines the role of Civil Religion as the mitigating sphere between politics and religion. This paper contributes to the study of ACR field by focusing on one aspect—the identity of Americans it created and reinforced through the symbols, rhetoric, and rituals of ACR. In an initially homogenous society, whiteness and Christianity were largely the shared reality and any contrary identities were marginalized or suppressed. Over time, as immigrants flooded the United States, the continuation of white/Christian American identity was institutionally constrained through legal practices of exclusion such as slavery, naturalization, and voting rights along with cultural exclusion such as the relocation of Native Americans to distant and isolated areas away from “real” Americans. In this paper, I argue that in the contemporary United States, the identity contained within Civil Religion is contested and challenged. On one side is a group who see “Real Americans” as the Whites and Christians who founded the nation-state, while another group argues “Real Americans” include the diverse ethnic, racial, cultural, and religious expressions of generations of citizens and immigrants, even though they have historically been pushed aside and ignored. These competing world views are not binary, but are largely black and white, and contribute directly to political polarization and culture wars in the United States.
The United States towards China-India Relations in the 21st Century View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Antonina Luszczykiewicz
This paper focuses on the US strategy towards one of the most important aspects of international relations in the Indo-Pacific region in the 21st century: the evolution of China-India relations. The researcher analyzes Washington's individual policies towards China and India, as well as the United States' approach towards relations between Beijing and New Delhi, particularly in the context of three problematic issues of China-India relations: the border dispute, the water issue, and the Tibetan issue. The scholar analyzes the official discourse of the White House, the context of declassified US documents, as well as the stream of laws passed by the US Congress over the last few years which are aimed at strengthening the United States' partnership with India and counterbalancing China's influence in South and Southeast Asia.
